I started pulling the six attackers, one at a time, from my back, legs, and head. I ran each one through with my sword and discarded severed limbs. There were too many of them to take on at once, so I’d have to whittle down their numbers.
The next four bugs trying to join the rest found themselves cut cleanly in half. When one tried to cover my eyes with an armored hand, I pulled the offending arm off and tossed it aside.
“Help!”
The voice was Yaltu’s. I turned and saw four of the aliens curling their barbed limbs around her arms and cloak, pinning her against a covered wagon. She was barely seven yards away, so I marched toward her, making the ground slick with gooey bug-custard. I cursed when the aliens holding her down snapped free and deployed translucent wings in preparation to launch.
Two bugs caught me in the head. One latched onto my face and the other went for my throat. I tore off the first one, but there was another to take its place. I made a fist, jammed my hand through what would have been its chestplate if it had been human, and extended my fingers.
Instant organic shield.
My fingers were drenched in the bug’s cold insides as I used its corpse to fend off some of the incoming swarm and shield-bash others. I used what remained of the bug corpse to push toward Yaltu as I ripped bugs off my face. The creatures attached to her began to flap their wings and rise into the air.
I slashed Ebon in a wide arc and carved through a mass of aliens. Their armored exteriors crumpled before my black blade and spurted guts over me. I broke through their ranks and surged toward Yaltu. Two more aliens tried to block my vision. I grabbed one from my shoulder and cracked it open against my knee. I hauled another off my thigh and used its body to bash several others. The sound of cracking carapaces and the twitching of broken limbs in the dirt filled my ears as I made my way to Yaltu.
I started snatching bugs from her with my free hand and executed them with swift stabs. Soon, she fell to the ground and stood among a mound of alien corpses.
Skrew stumbled past us with four bugs attached to him. I threw an insectoid corpse, and it crashed into one of his pursuers. The others fled but not before he caught one, stood on it with one foot and proceeded to rip its limbs off, cursing at the creature the whole time. He stopped when another six tackled him, but I was too busy tearing the little bastards off my back.
Two of the winged aliens cornered Yaltu against a stall while I struggled. She’d grabbed ahold of one of my legs and was holding on while she tried to kick the bugs away. They stopped when I leaned back and separated their heads from their bodies.
Then things got serious. A winged alien had found the Medusa-humanoid who’d bought the ax and had apparently mugged him for it. I barely had time to rotate my hips and place one of its own kind between myself and the ax. When the weapon hit, the blade got stuck inside the bug’s chest. Both bugs fought for control of the weapon. I stopped the fight with a swift slash that cut both enemies and the ax in half.
Like a nest of yellowjackets, the more bugs I killed, the more that seemed to arrive. The sky was so thick with them, day became night. I slashed, bashed, and punched. I used them as flails, cannonballs, and shields. When I ripped the wing-cover off one, I must have forced them to take me seriously, because they started biting. Each bite wasn’t much, but the combined attacks were distracting. It was when one of them made a beeline for my crotch that I went on autopilot.
My hands felt like they moved on their own accord. I held Ebon with both hands, closed my eyes, and allowed my instincts and my ears to guide me. I imagined myself as a whirlwind of death. No movement was wasted. Every stroke of my sword made impact, and although the handle was growing slick with bug guts, I knew I could hold it tighter without breaking it.
Soon, the entire street was covered in a mess of limbs, wings, and carapace armor. A crowd had gathered to watch the fight, and none of them moved. I scanned the area for Yaltu and found her, knife in hand. I hadn’t seen her kill anything with her weapon, but she looked unharmed.
Skrew jumped up and down. “Jacob made bug soup! Want to eat?” he asked the crowd.
There was a humming sound, barely audible. It seemed to be coming from further down the street. I wondered whether it was more of the winged aliens coming for Yaltu. Skrew continued yelling at the crowd, recounting the battle they’d all just watched. But the crowd wasn’t interested. They started pushing past each other to hide behind stalls.
Shit. It must be more of those winged creatures. And from the volume of the humming noise, it was a veritable army.
“It’s the High Lord,” Yaltu said, her words quavering with fear. “It’s Skald. He’s here. We cannot escape him.”
So, it wasn’t more of the bugs I’d just killed.
I scanned the streets for some way to get out of here, but it was a dead-end. The only way out was toward the humming noise. Now that it was getting louder, I realized it sounded like some kind of vehicle. Probably another one of those hovercrafts I saw the toads driving. I couldn’t escape, but if the this
